‘A lot of people would say that a vampire movie would fit, but I would disagree,’ Gerard Way says of ‘Twilight’ sequel.
By now, everyone is probably aware that My Chemical Romance are fairly gigantic comic book fans.
But if the Eisner Award-winning series penned by frontman Gerard Way or the Halloween-themed Batman strip his brother Mikey wrote weren’t proof enough of this, check out Gerard’s train of thought for MCR’s punked-up take on Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row,” which closes out Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Watchmen” film:
“We were on the Projekt Revolution [Tour], and I got a call on my phone. Somebody had put Zack through to me, and he was immediately excited. And so we started talking [about the song], and he said, ‘Well, what are you thinking?’ because originally he said ‘Let’s just have a 10-minute version that goes through the whole credits.’ And I was originally cool with it,” Way told MTV News. “But since the story [of 'Watchmen'] takes place in an alternate early ’80s, I wanted to make the song a product of that era. And there’s a lot of gangs in ‘Watchmen,’ there’s a couple bands [mentioned], like Pale Horse, and you never know what those bands sound like, but I’m assuming it sounds like early ’80s punk or late-’70s punk. … And he said, ‘That sounds perfect.’ ”
And that dedication to “Watchmen” didn’t end with MCR’s version of the song. When it came time to shoot the “Desolation Row” video, Way and the guys took it one step further, decking themselves out like a skuzzy punk act from the “Watchmen” ’80s — complete with deathly pallors and black eyes.
“I just wanted to look pale. Not gothy pale, but, like, sick. I thought a punk band from the early ’80s should probably look sick, they should look kind of ill,” he laughed. “And the black eye, I figured bands back then got into a lot more fights than they do these days. All those bands like to fight; we don’t like to fight.”
So, after knocking it out of the park with “Desolation Row,” are My Chem looking at a second career (after, you know, being in a rock band) scoring films? Given their former, rather vampirish past, they seem naturals for “Twilight” sequel “New Moon.”
“I don’t think so,” Way said. “We’re very choosy. … There were a few films that we didn’t do the song for because it didn’t fit. I guess a lot of people would say that a vampire movie would fit, but I would disagree with that these days. Even since Black Parade, I would kind of disagree with that. I don’t know if we’d be interested in that.”
Source: MTV
I’m in the midst of uploading 15 new videos to the archive (which will get a nice new layout soon, promise). Videos include perfomances from both AOL Sessions (including behind the scenes), the VMA Pre-Show performance of ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’, the ‘Dallas’ trailer, the second half of the NME interview (check out part one here) and a recent interview with MTV which has Gerard talking about Watchmen, movie soundtracks and Bob Dylan – enjoy!
Yup, Gerard Way is on the cover of this week’s edition of NME, giving an interview about the upcoming move of The Umbrella Academy. I have a copy of the magazine here – just need to find a scanner – but for now check out some images posted by NME on their website.
‘I think it’s going to get by on its musicianship and its own merits in the songs,’ frontman Gerard Way says of less dramatic album.
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Matt Elias
There was a time, long before the multiplatinum records and the pancake makeup, before the Eisner Award-winning comics or the Dylan cover in the “Watchmen” film, when My Chemical Romance were just another band from New Jersey. They would like very much to get back to that time.
So that’s goal number one with their new album — the follow-up to the massively successful, massively ambitious Welcome to the Black Parade — which they’re currently writing in Los Angeles. They hope to get back to their roots — to make manic, fast-and-furious, spur-of-the-moment punk. And, above all, to keep it simple.
“When we had just finished Black Parade, I think doing that record made us feel like we could do everything. And so I think the way to top a record that already kind of does everything is to not do everything,” MCR frontman Gerard Way smiled. “I don’t think this is gonna be a ‘kitchen sink’ record. I think it’s going to get by on its musicianship and its own merits in the songs.
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